The Greatest Healing Power in the Universe

This is a great love story! Evy had Lou Gehrig's Disease and was told she had six months to live. She also had had withered limbs from childhood polio and was overweight. Wanting to make the most out of the time she had left, she developed a plan. She sat in front of her mirror for 20 minutes, 3 times a day in her wheelchair--in the nude.

Evy had made a long list of everything she didn't like about her body. She hated her body and how it seemed to have let her down. Now, in front of her mirror, she started a list of what she did like, determined to add to that list.

Evy then consciously accepted all the negative feelings about herself and gave them to God, saying, "God, these are my feelings and thoughts. I accept them as mine. But I don't know what to do with them. You take them." In addition, she systematically forgave everyone who had ever harmed her in any way. All of this was her 3-times-daily practice.

Eventually, the list of positive qualities got longer than the list of negative qualities. One day, as she went into the bathroom for her ritual, she realized all the negative feelings were completely gone. She felt nothing but love and compassion for herself and her body. She saw herself as blessed and as having done much good in the world.

As she continued her practice, she began to get stronger. She became able to walk again. Finally, Evy recovered completely, the first person ever to recover from this cruel disease. She had unknowingly tapped into the most powerful healing force in the universe—love.

Evy wasn't trying to heal herself. She had been told this was impossible. She had accepted that she was going to die. But she wanted to die with unconditional love and acceptance for herself.

Additionally, Evy, a nurse, realized that all the service she had rendered in her life had been done either for reward or recognition or out of a sense of duty. She decided she would perform service only from love, whether sick or well. She changed professions and has been loving what she does and loving herself ever since.

(This story is taken from Greg Tamblyn's book, Atilla the Gate Agent: Travel Tales and Life Lessons from a Musical Lafologist. Greg Tamblyn first read about Evy in Bernie Siegel’s book, Peace, Love, And Healing.)